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"In my opinion they are at least half a second faster per lap, even with respect to McLaren. The championship already looks over to me before it has started," Trulli told Autosprint.

The 33-year-old Italian said Ferrari's superiority stemmed from the team's ability to adapt to the scrapping of traction control.

"They brake where they want but, above all, they accelerate where they want, when I always have to be careful giving power, which is no longer managed by traction control.

"It's true that aerodynamic efficiency is even more crucial in Bahrain than at Jerez or Valencia because of the numerous fast bends. The asphalt gives better grip but Ferrari's superiority is disconcerting."

The Italian driver added that he did not expect Toyota to be contending for top-place finishes this season.

"Ferrari and McLaren are out of reach for us, so it is unrealistic to talk about podiums," he said.

"But the car has improved a lot compared to 2007 in reliability and in its performance with used tyres, which used to be our main problem.

"Given the problems BMW seem to be suffering, maybe it will be possible for us to come close to secondary teams such as Renault, BMW, Williams, but it's impossible to go any further."

Jarno Trulli may feel that Ferrari has the Formula 1 title sown up before the season has even started, but defending champion Kimi Raikkonen admits that the Scuderia still has room for improvement with its new F2008.

The new car has been a solid performer throughout pre-season testing and came out on top on each of the six days of running in the recent Bahrain test. While that session was attended by just two teams - Trulli's Toyota outfit being the other - it did see the F2008 lapping two seconds quicker than the pole position time for the 2007 race a the Sakhir circuit.

Despite that speed however, Raikkonen insisted that there is still more to come from the car, with the testing done so far having shown that the car isn't yet perfect.

"This session has also shown problems - small ones - with the F2008," the Finn was quoted as telling Gazzetta dello Sport by Sky Sports. "We wanted to get to know the car better, and so we did.

"There have already been improvements. Obviously reliability hasn't come automatically, but two or three lap times have already been interesting."

Raikkonen added that there were changes afoot with the car for the remaining tests and it was only when the Formula 1 circus descends on Melbourne for the season opener that the team will really know where it stands.

"We've improved in many areas, now we look forward to the new aerodynamics we'll try out in the Barcelona test," he said. "There we will go against our rivals and we'll know where we stand.

"The decisive step is the next test and then Melbourne, because only at the first GP we'll know how the teams compare."